Flicka Tuuletar

Flicka Friends #14 (Fall 1998) carries John Calhoon's account of a late-summer cruise aboard the Flicka American Pie; the newsletter gives no hull number, so the tie to Tuuletar rests on the registry. He and Margaret took her out of her Lake Union berth, locked through the Ballard Locks after work on a Friday, and worked north with overnight stops at Shilshole Bay Marina and Port Townsend before motoring across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Cattle Point. In the islands they threaded the narrow entrance to Fisherman's Bay on Lopez with the Waggoner guide open, then left her on the guest dock at Friday Harbor and went home by ferry for a few days.

Returning for the Labor Day weekend, they carried on to the marina at Blakely Island and then to Doe Bay on Orcas, where they anchored out overnight for the first time on their own and rowed ashore to find an artist painting American Pie into a seascape. The weekend ended at Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes, where she was lifted onto her trailer; Calhoon noted that the Flicka is not the easiest boat to trailer, but that Bruce Bingham's mast-lowering rig brought the job of dropping and stowing the mast down to about an hour.

1979 Pacific Seacraft Flicka s/v American Pie

 Home Port: Shilshole Bay, Seattle, Washington

We became the proud owners of American Pie almost a year ago, making on offer through Seacraft Yacht Sales on Valentine's Day. Over the first summer we took her to the San Juan Islands over Memorial Day and again over Labor Day. We moored in Lake Union for a few months and enjoyed a couple of Duck Dodge races in the evenings along with weekend sailing on Lake Washington.

Although the boat came nicely equipped with five sails, full spray curtains and an Autohelm tiller pilot, we've been adding our own touches over the last few months. Shore power, battery charger and kerosene lamp are some of the things we've installed. Roller furling and a new headsail are currently on order.

American Pie has been moored in our back yard for the winter {editor: 1998-99} and we look forward to launching her again in two or three weeks.

J. Calhoon